


You're Beautiful

by ultraviolethaz



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, Teacher!Magnus, singer!alec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26103937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultraviolethaz/pseuds/ultraviolethaz
Summary: Alec sees his new neighbour through his living room window. A misunderstanding and a few songs later, Alec gets his happy ending
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 2
Kudos: 65





	You're Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while, this is an idea my best friend had and gave me permission to write it. I took the idea and ran with it, so I hope I did it justice :)
> 
> This is from Alec's pov mostly and Magnus has they/he pronouns 
> 
> Enjoy  
> K x

Alec holds tight to the mic, nervous for the first time before performing, waiting for the beat to kick in. He’s nervous because he’s singing a new song. He had written it two days ago, sitting in his tiny apartment, mulling over a past love. It’s completely out of his comfort zone, the note change and the high note, he added on a whim, now he’s nervous about it all but he has no time to think as the band starts to play. All eyes of the cafe goers are on him now. He tries to scan the audience to find his sister and sure enough she’s sitting in the back with her boyfriend, Simon. Giving him a thumbs up, a big cheesy grin, just like she does every weekend. It calms him down enough that he can sing the first note without his voice faltering. 

_ ‘Lilac sweater paints a sunset in my mind’ _

Alec starts to feel the music and bobbed slightly along to the rhythm. He feels like crying a little while he sings the high note, he didn’t see himself eight months ago singing about a lilac sweater, he still has in his closet, and the summer love that lasted less than a month. He finds Isabelle again in the crowd, she is looking at Simon across the table, even from here Alec can see the love she has in her eyes. He decides right there he wants that again. The song comes to an end and everyone in the cafe is clapping, Alec says a quick thank you into the mic and turns to discuss the next song with the band. 

Once the set is over, Alec steps down from the tiny piano stage, and is instantly greeted by his sister. Bringing her in for a hug, even offering one to Simon. 

“You did amazing, Alec!” Isabelle congratulates him, giving him a half hug this time, he smiles wildly. The nerves from the beginning of the night are forgotten as he sits to watch the other musicians of the night.

He gets back to his apartment late into the night, he isn’t expecting the lights from the apartment across the alley to be on and slightly illuminating his living room. The person who lived there had only been there for a few months, Alec has a perfect view into their apartment from his living room. The last person to live there had blinds, so he never saw into the place, this person however doesn’t care about the potential for his neighbour to be looking in. That much is clear when he sees them through the window, shirtless, phone between their shoulder and ear. Alec doesn’t mean to be staring but the person is mesmerizing. He closes his curtains, before he is caught and goes back to the dinner he was making.

Hitting stop on his phone alarm, Alec begrudgingly gets out of bed, wiping his eyes from sleep.He has work today, he really shouldn’t have stayed up as late as he did, but he can’t think about that now. Getting into his uniform he's out of the door before he can think about anything. Sunday shifts are some of the worst, the tourist train comes in at around noon, and the afternoon is pretty much dead, Alec is always the last one to leave the small cafe. He likes to close up and be alone for a moment at the end of a busy day, so he would never complain about it. He decides to walk home that night, it’s not many blocks and New York is just waking up to the party crowd. This is one of Alec’s favourite times of the day, seeing New York at its finest, different types of people walking to wherever they are off to for the night. He almost wishes he was one of them, but he never was and he doesn’t think he’ll ever be, the appeal of partying all night, only to stumble to someone’s house he doesn’t know and wake up with no ounce of regret, just wasn’t there for Alec. He’s a love, passionately and all at once kind of guy. 

His mind is somewhere else when he bumps into someone on the street, catching them before the fall to the sidewalk.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry” Alec says quickly, helping the person to stand up. “I wasn’t paying attention, are you okay?” Then it registers in Alec’s mind, this is the person from the window, the person he’s accidentally been watching like a complete creep, for months. They’re even more stunning close up, he doesn’t realise their mouth is moving until the last second “Sorry, what were you saying?”

“That there’s no harm done, I’m good, thank you for catching me”

“Welcome, I should uh get going” Alec makes an excuse he needs a way to get out so he can run home and hide in shame

“Yeah right, okay, thank you again” They exchange an awkward goodbye wave and go their separate ways. What Alec doesn’t know is that Magnus looks back at him quickly walking down the street, and sees him disappearing into the apartment block next to his own.

The day has been long, Alec throws his apron on the back of the couch, slumping into the desk chair hoping for a glimpse. These last couple of weeks since their meeting on the street, Alec had been avoiding seeing him again, leaving earlier than needing to just to make sure that they don’t run each other again. One morning he hadn’t been so lucky, he stepped onto the sidewalk and was greeted by them, smiling at each other briefly before Alec made his way down the street. That didn’t work, because he had been followed by the beautiful stranger, for a half a block as they called out that Alec had dropped his employee card. That’s not how Alec got Magnus’ name, it was a Thursday afternoon, he was just about ready to go home, leaving Angela with the closing up, the bell above the door sounded and there they were, standing in front of Alec. He only managed to get their name from the coffee they had ordered. Magnus. He’d never heard the name before, he liked that he never had, there were no bad assumptions attached to it, no past Magnus that interrupted the thought of the new. He had been left with a smile on his face from the badges on Magnus’ backpack, as he left the cafe that afternoon. A sunflower, a pride flag, a bi pride flag and a pronoun badge proudly displayed, if Alec went home and searched for a gay pride pin for his unifrom as soon as he got home then, no one had to know. 

He gets his wish in a matter of seconds, the light from the room, making it easy to watch as the man dances around, with his cat between his arms. Clearly singing to whatever music is playing, Alec just wishes he could hear that and the voice that sings along. He spots another body moving inside the flat, the boyfriend, Alec had forgotten all about him. In the last couple of days, Alec had noticed moving boxes on the sidewalk, and suddenly there was a new body in the apartment. He only assumed it was Magnus’ boyfriend, he just put two and two together. Sloughing slightly as he watches Magnus’ face light up, letting the cat free, dragging his boyfriend across the room to join him in the dancing. Alec leaves at that. Dropping into bed and curling into the sheets and drifting off to sleep. Alec doesn’t know that almost as soon as he left his seat, Magnus looked through the window, hoping to see the tall, dark and handsome musician, who lives across the alley. 

“Isabelle you live across town what are you doing here?” Grabbing another plate from the draining board. He’d been moping around the apartment for most of the day, trying to write a song that didn’t work or he couldn’t find the words, either way it didn’t matter. He had given up and descended to Twitter to voice his grievances, shouting into the void was better than sitting alone and probably crying.

“I saw your Twitter. You’re sad, I’m your sister, here to make you feel better” She says holding up a plastic bag, Alec can see that it is filled with snacks

“You didn’t have to do that” 

“No I didn’t but I wanted to” Isabelle makes her way to the couch, putting the bag down on the coffee table. Alec joins her, folding one of his legs under himself. “So… the guy?” What did his tweet say again? Something about having a crush and not being able to do anything about it. He sets into a long conversation about everything, Isabelle has always been there for him in the hard times. She was also pretty good at keeping secrets, even if Simon claimed she was actually the worst.

“You just stare at his window all day?”

“No not all day, I’m not a creep, I can just see in, when the lights on” Alec says, shoving a pretzel into his mouth.

“I’m not saying you should talk to him, but I’m saying you should talk to him” Isabelle offers

“Did you not hear the part where I said he has a boyfriend?” Giving her a look only siblings share, she puts her hands up. They end up watching three episodes of Drag Race, which Alec grumbles his way through, before Isabelle heads home, leaving Alec alone in his apartment. He thinks about picking up his song book then changes his mind, instead just heading to bed. 

The Friday morning rush passed without a hiccup, Alec relaxes slightly, as he stacks the mugs back up ready for the afternoon. The bell rings above the door, snapping his view up, Magnus is stood there with his bright smile. Alec feels himself smiling back in an instant, taking his order and watching silently as he takes his tea and sits by the window with his laptop, typing something out. He can’t help but watch Magnus across the cafe, every chance he gets. There’s something about him that pulls Alec in, and doesn’t let go. Then he’s reminded that Magnus has a boyfriend and he goes back to looking down at the counter. 

“Is that tomorrow?” A voice says, as Alec is putting the milk jug back in the cupboard, near closing time, he turns and sees Magnus, backpack on his shoulder, has he really been there all day? Alec looks at where he is pointing, at the open mic poster on the corkboard.

“Uh yeah it is, actually it’s every Saturday” Alec offers, continuing to clean the coffee machine

“Oh really? I’m new to the area, but you probably know that already” Alec gives Magnus a puzzled look “Our apartments are right next to each other, I never did catch your name”

“Alec Lightwood” He extends his hand across

“Nice to meet you Alexander, Magnus Bane”.

He can’t get the conversation out of his mind, when he gets home, he throws all his belongings on the sofa, rifles through a drawer to find his song book, and starts to write a song. For Magnus. It’s not hard to find the right words, it supposes it should be a lot harder because he hardly knows him, the guy in the apartment across the alley, the guy in the apartment that his apartment looks into. He now knows that maybe Magnus has seen him in his apartment. That maybe Magnus has been just as curious and has taken a peek like he does. He also knows that maybe Magnus will come to the cafe tomorrow to see him perform, he had said that he was in the lineup for the night like he is every weekend. Magnus had been excited about the open mic, enough to ask about the poster. Alec could feel the smile he had on his face. Maybe if Magnus was looking through his living room window he would see Alec there with a stupid grin on his face, but that didn’t bother Alec, he was in the writing zone, he was spilling words onto the tiny notebook pages like his life depended on him doing just that. He was going to finish this song tonight and sing it tomorrow. He wanted Magnus to hear it and maybe this was his only chance. 

Alec stands on the stage once again, he hasn’t looked around the room yet fear that he won’t see Magnus there, or that he will and back out of what he has planned. The band started up, Alec had practiced the new song with them today, he glanced up at the last second before he had to sing the lyrics. His eyes instantly land on Magnus, as he shuffles inside the cafe door, he sends Alec a smile and a small wave. Alec is grateful for it as he sings the first few lines. This, singing on a stage has always been a dream of his, since he was a little boy, watching all those classic music shows on tv with his parents. He didn’t think he’d be singing in a cafe on some back street of New York but it was better than nothing. He enjoyed singing to a small crowd every Saturday night. His sister never missed a performance which always helped, she was so supportive and definitely held him up at the times when he thought about giving it all up.

‘ _ Started when we were younger _

_ Swear to God that I loved her _

_ Sorry that your mum found out’ _

This song was for Magnus, but also for him, he had denied he was gay for so long, convnced himself he was in love with some girl called Jessica. Finally got his first boyfriend in high school, and they were secret for so long but then his mother found out and he crushed Alec’s heart. Magnus is leaning against the back wall, listening to the sound of Alec’s voice as it trails around the small room. The song ends and Alec steps away from the mic, looking for Isabelle for the reassurance he is seeking, and sure enough she gives it to him. A big toothy grin like always. He sets into his cover of ‘just a little bit of your heart’ and ends on ‘lilac sweater’ and a smile. When he searches for Magnus, he’s gone from his spot, it leaves Alec a little disappointed but he steps off the piano stage and down to his sister, who wraps him up in a hug. He watches the rest of the performances and thinks about how Magnus would probably love the girl on stage. He leaves after everyone else, offering to help Angela with the washing up. He doesn’t expect Magnus to be standing on the sidewalk outside.

“Alexander, I was wondering if you’d ever leave” Magnus remarked through a chuckle, Alec smiled back “I’m sorry is this weird?” 

“No” Alec answered too quickly for his own liking, it doesn’t seem to bother Magnus because he starts talking again

“You’re really talented. Did you write those songs?” Alec just simply nods “I really liked that one called what was it? Beautiful?” Alec can see now just how nervous Magnus is, the way he’s twisting one of the rings on his finger.

“Yeah, thank you” He smiles at the ground, like some school kid with a crush. He feels a little lighter, sure people compliment him on his singing, but the only people who have bothered to remember his song titles are Isabelle and Simon. His childhood best friend Maia remembered too but they haven’t spoken for months, since she moved for college and Alec didn’t follow. 

“Can I walk you back home?” Magnus asks shyly, not really looking at Alec. Alec agrees and they walk down the sidewalk. It’s only a ten minute walk down the mainstreet, but they end up talking the whole way, they arrive at the apartment door too soon for Alec’s liking and he’s about to invite Magnus up, but then he remembers they have a boyfriend and he doesn’t want to be that person.

“Well goodnight Magnus”

“Goodnight Alexander” They both disappear into their apartment buildings, they both steal a glance at each other before they fully go inside and that makes Alec smile so brightly that it doesn’t leave his face until he hits the pillow and falls asleep. 

They don’t meet again until the following week, Alec stealing glances through the window at Magnus at any moment he gets, he hopes to see Magnus there just once but it doesn’t happen until Thursday afternoon, when he sees them dancing through the living room. Alec uploads a few videos, of himself and his guitar, to Twitter on his day off. He smiles as he reads through the replies, mostly positive aside from the odd troll but that doesn’t bother Alec anymore like it used to. It's Saturday night and he’s making his way to the cafe for the second time today. It is acoustic night and he has always loved it, it’s just him and his guitar on the stage singing, he feels 14 all over again, like he’s singing in front of his high school for the first time again. Like his crush is watching and he’s trying to impress them. Well he could very well be doing that right now, he hasn’t really looked up from his fingers playing the chords. Singing through ‘lilac sweater’ for the third week running, he hasn’t got any new material. He has fragments of shitty writing. At the end, he looks up and there at the back is Magnus, smiling widely. He feels the ghost of Magnus’ touch on the top of his arm as he steps into his apartment. He knows he shouldn’t be feeling this way, he knows Magnus has a boyfriend and he knows that he doesn’t care one little bit. 

He choses Monday evening to text Maia, some shit text that maybe won’t get him his best friend back. When his phone rings on the kitchen counter later that night, he is surprised to see Maia’s name lighting up the screen. 

“Hi” She speaks first “It’s been too long” Alec knows that and he hates himself for letting it go on for so long, that he didn’t make an effort to talk to her more often. 

“I’m sorry” It’s all he can say, he can’t think of anything better

“Me too” He can hear the smile in her voice, that was one of his favourite things about Maia, you didn’t have to be looking at her to know that she was smiling. He also liked her cooking and he misses their friend nights when she would come over and spend hours and hours talking about their shared love for chinese food and kpop boys. “I’m actually back home on Friday”

“You are? Come by the cafe, I’ll be there until five, please” They agree on the time, she mentions how happy she is to hear from him. He still feels shit but at least he’s trying again. He spends most of his Friday shift staring at the door, waiting for Maia to walk through, and when she does they sit in the corner of the cafe talking about everything they’ve missed about their lives. Parting ways on a promise that they will do this more often, even with Maia on the other side of the country. Alec locks up the cafe and heads home, his apartment dark as he enters, it’s the only downside to living alone. Freshly showered, he sets himself at his desk, setting up the mixing programme and… his phone buzzes. A Twitter notification. He sees the icon first, it’s obvious it’s Magnus. Alec didn’t know that Magnus followed him on his musician account- well that's a little embarrassing. He opens the message nonetheless and it simply reads  **‘look out your window’.** Looking to his left, there’s Magnus standing in his own window, holding a bottle of wine. Alec sends back  **‘roof?’** , grabbing his jumper and walking out the door. 

He meets Magnus in the elevator of his building, they don’t say anything until they're on the roof, looking out over their neighbourhood. When Alec moved out on his own he never expected to end up just ten minutes from his childhood home. He had wanted to get far away, start fresh but he knew in the back of his mind he couldn’t leave his mother alone. Magnus handed him the bottle of wine, drinking straight from the bottle like Magnus had.

“So” Magnus started breaking the silence between them “How was your day?”

“Good, i guess, yours?” Handing the bottle back to Magnus

“Yeah not so great, but now I’m here” Alec knew that Magnus was looking at him, even without looking himself, he could feel their eyes on him. “So what is there to know about Alexander Lightwood?”

“Not a great deal”

“Come on” Magnus bumped their shoulders, making Alec crack into a grin “Let’s start, what's your middle name?”

“Is this going to be one of those things where you start with my full name and eventually lead into what’s your credit card information?” Alec jokes, as Magnus clutched his chest

“I’m wounded” Said through a laugh “No Alexander, I’m not here for the money”

“Gideon”

“What?”

“My middle name”

“Is Gideon?”

“Yes” It was silent “And don’t laugh, it was my grandfather’s name” 

“I’d never laugh, I don’t even have one” Alec smiled, and they continued talking until the early hours, up on the roof until it got too cold, and they retreated to Magnus’ apartment. Hugging a mug of coffee between his palms, Alec finds himself wondering where Magnus’ boyfriend could be? He hasn’t seen them the whole time he’s been here. So he asks

“Are you sure your boyfriend doesn’t mind that I’m here?”

“My boyfriend?” Magnus' face is screaming confusion “Oh you mean Raphael. It means a lot that you worry about that but Raphael is most ceritanly not my boyfriend” Alec feels instantly stupid, had he assumed Magnus’ sexuality this whole time, when he knows that is possibly the worst thing that someone could do

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to” He’s cut off by Magnus placing his hands on top of his own

“You don’t have to be sorry. He’s just a very good friend, but he moved out yesterday” Alec relaxes slightly, Magnus’ hands are laying on top of his own but he doesn’t want to move to break whatever spell he is under. Magnus like this, in their own home, hair up in a half hearted ponytail, sweatpants hanging low on his hips and some ratty jumper that Alec knows has been loved. He looks peaceful and Alec wants to see him this way for a long time. 

“Besides, I’m interested in someone else” A smirk is placed on Magnus’ lips, like he knows what it’s doing to Alec.

“Oh I see” He tries to play it cool but it’s not working out the way Alec wants it to “How do they feel about you?” Setting his coffee down and turns to face Magnus fully

“I’m not sure really” Before Alec knows it they’re both leaning in, the space between them getting smaller and smaller. From this close Alec can see the tiny spots of freckles Magnus has littered across his skin. Then Magnus’ lips are pressed against his. And he’s kissing back. This is what Alec doesn’t want to let go off, this feeling, Magnus’ hand on his cheek, and what can only be described as if he was floating on a cloud. Alec reluctantly pulls away for air, his smile matching to the one Magnus’ is wearing. He can’t help himself, kissing Magnus again, this time they're both smiling too much for it to be anymore than teeth against teeth.

“I guess he feels the same”

Alec sets his laptop down on his desk, and his coffee next to it on the coaster, opening his window as wide as he can, before sitting down and getting comfortable. He messages Magnus  **‘ready’** , he doesn't have to wait before his boyfriend appears in the opposite window, he smiles ducking his head and opening the mixing programme. Nights had been like this for the past week, Magnus had got sick and had been very clear he didn’t want Alec in any vicinity of him for the next week at least. In the last month, Alec had realised just how much he liked Magnus, he had fallen, and fallen really fucking hard. He told Maia and Isabelle all about the whirlwind he was sent into, they had helped him calm down slightly and helped him to realise that what he was feeling was completely normal and he shouldn’t worry about any of it. Looking across the alley now, at Magnus, how impossibly small they look wrapped up in a blanket, the red of their nose- Alec can even see it from here. Magnus pulls his phone to his face, Alec knows their glasses make their headache worse at the moment.  **‘How is it going over there?’**

“Bad, I still don’t understand this programme” He answers out loud, rubbing his temples slightly, maybe he should just read the tutorial again. He had only started using any sort of programme for his songs, a few days ago, Magnus had encouraged him to reach out to some management companies and find a way to get his songs into the world. When that unfortunately hadn’t worked out the way Alec hoped he took matters into his own hands, mix his own songs and upload them to Spotify alone, only if he knew how this damn programme worked. “Sorry are you feeling any better?”

“Yeah a little” Magnus says through a croaky voice, Alec smiles “It still hurts to talk”

“Then don’t, idiot” Said through a smirk, he chuckles but he starts coughing. Alec can’t help it, getting up from his chair, sliding his slippers on, he rode the elevator down and walked straight into Magnus’ apartment building. He knocked on the door. He didn’t say anything when they opened up, just pulling his boyfriend into a hug. They spend the evening, watching Magnus’ favourite film on the couch. 

Another Saturday rolls around, the cafe has been transformed into a autumn getaway, Alec and Simon had spent an hour after closing time decorating for the open mic. Tonight, he plans to tell Magnus how he really feels, through the one way he knows he won’t completely freeze, a song. He had written it after the first time he spent the night at Magnus’ apartment, even then he knew how much they meant to him. Tonight, is also the day Alec releases his first single,  _ ‘Beautiful _ ’, onto Spotify, it might not even go anywhere, but it would be nice to say he at least tried. Later into the night, he’s stood on the stage Magnus, Isabelle and Simon are all sat on their usual table, to Alec’s dismay Isabelle and Magnus had become the best of friends after he introduced them. The music starts up, this time from a backing track and Alec can see the confusion in his boyfriend’s eyes. 

_ ‘now my heart is in your hands please don’t give it up’ _

Tears roll down his face, he feels a little dumb for crying but looking at Magnus, he can’t help it. They meet in the middle, the crowd of the acfe clapping and cheering as their lips meet. Alec runs his thumbs under Magnus’ eyes wiping away tears. He’s so in love. It’s almost stupid.

**Author's Note:**

> The songs included  
> \- Beautiful by Bazzi  
> \- Lilac Sweater by Mia Giovina (soundcloud)  
> \- Just a Little Bit of Your Heart by Ariana Grande (The Harry Styles version)  
> \- Temporary Love by Ben Platt


End file.
